Saving Face
by sloganlogan
Summary: A One Shot displaying some of the team interaction between Team Minato.


Saving Face

Morning had just ended and with it Team Minato's first B rank mission. The group of four had just arrived back at the village gates happy at both their success in their mission as well as finally returning home.

"And did you see when I fried that Iwa nin Minato sensei!?" an overactive Uchiha boy half hollered.

At that the second boy of the group, Kakashi Hatake, scoffed. With a roll of the eyes he said, "You seem to forget the half dozen times you've missed before I pinned him down for you." At that the Uchiha turned to glare at the silver haired boy.

Sensing an argument, Minato stepped in. "You and Obito showed excellent teamwork on the mission, I'm proud to have such able students," he interjected lamely hoping to avoid another fight between the two. Luckily for Minato this seemed to please Obito and Kakashi simply rolled his eyes but let the issue drop. Minato let out a small sigh of relief, there was no need for a successful mission to be ruined by senseless squabbling.

All the while the final member of Team Minato, Rin, was lost in her own thoughts. It seemed like Team Minato had been doing an endless amount of D and C ranked missions. This was the first time they've ever completed a B rank mission as a team. Their team was moving up from the throw away missions and for the first time Rin felt like a true shinobi "We should celebrate," Rin said softly to herself.

Noticing his student talking to herself Minato asked, "Did you say something Rin?"

And just like that all eyes were on her. Feeling the grip of shyness begin to take over due in no small part to a particular silver haired crush of hers, Rin meekly said, "Well umm, Minato sensei I was just wondering if it would be a good idea to celebrate the success of our mission."

Almost instantaneously Obito latched onto the idea. "That's a great idea Rin," he spewed. "There's this new ramen place, Ichirakus I think it's called, just opened up; we can go there!"

"Hmm some team bonding would do this team some good," Minato offered.

Not particularly wanting to go but seeing no reason not to, Kakashi simply nodded his head.

Happy, and surprised, that her idea was so well received a smile broke out on Rin's face. Who knows maybe this would even become a tradition.

The walk the Ichiraku's was uneventful. Obito tried talking to Rin, Rin tried talking to Kakashi, and Kakashi tried to tune out the both of them. Minato simply observed his three students.

It was clear to Minato that Obito was infatuated with Rin. This wouldn't have been much of a problem if Rin wasn't hopelessly in love with Kakashi. Hopefully Obito wasn't the jealous type or it could drive a wedge between the team. Luckily Rin came up with idea of celebrating the Team's success. "This might be just the thing that'll keep these kids together," thought Minato.

The existing love triangle on his team was really just old news. The only new thing Minato noticed was a tired look in Kakashi's eyes. More tired than usual. The boy had been working hard towards his goal of becoming a Jonin. "I wonder if he's getting enough sleep," Minato thought to himself.

All of Minato's contemplation was broken at their arrival to the ramen stand. After all, Minato _was_ hungry, and he wouldn't be able to do much thinking with an empty stomach.

After arriving to the ramen stand Team Minato took their seats and ordered. What would have ordinarily been plagued by Obito nervously trying to make conversation with Rin along with an odd comment or two from Minato was nullified by the near immediate service at Ichiraku's. Team Minato collectively raised an eyebrow at the speed of the service. They were either trying to make a good impression or this food had been lying around for a while.

Though after catching the scent coming from the ramen they all quickly decided it was the former. All four members of Team Minato picked up their chopsticks in preparation for the meal. But suddenly three of the member's froze. Kakashi was not one of them. He was in fact the cause of the odd behavior of his teammates.

Minato, Rin, and Obito, suddenly realized that they've never seen Kakashi eat before. Seeing Kakashi eat wasn't what was so intriguing to them though, seeing Kakashi without his mask however, was. Thoughts began running through the heads of all members of Team Minato.

"I've been this boy's sensei for how many years and I still never seen his face. Is today the day?" thought Minato.

"I wonder if he has buck teeth. Maybe he has a huge nose! Big lips?" pondered Obito.

"I can't believe Kakashi trusts m- us enough to let us see under his mask," thought Rin.

"This ramen actually looks really good. Now maybe if people weren't staring me down I might be able to enjoy it," Kakashi angrily thought.

Oblivious to Kakashi's annoyance Team Minato stared on. Deciding to just ignore his teammates Kakashi reached up to grab the edge of his mask. And just when it seemed like he was going to pull it down the impossible happen.

An Anbu appeared between Minato and his team, catching the three gawking members of Team Minato by surprise. While Rin let out a small yelp of surprise Minato nearly jumped out of his seat while Obito literally fell out of his. All the while Kakashi was free to eat his food.

"Minato Namikaze your presence his requested by the Hokage," the Anbu stated. Before Minato could respond the Anbu continued saying, "The Uchiha's presence was requested as well for… evaluation."

Minato was finally able to recover and get his thoughts straight. The Hokage probably wanted a mission report and see whether Obito's Sharingan has awakened yet. He nodded to the Anbu and in a blink of the eye only Team Minato was in the restaurant once more.

Minato turned to his team, especially Rin, and said, "I guess were going to have to cut this short, it's too bad we never even got to ea…," Minato trailed off as his gaze landed on Kakashi's empty bowl of ramen as well as Kakashi's regular dead pan expression.

"Is something wrong sensei?" Kakashi asked.

Minato paused for a moment before responding, "Not at all Kakashi. Anyway Kakashi, Rin, We will meet tommorow at training ground 7." He then turned to Obito, who was still floored from the Anbu. "Come on Obito, best not to keep the Hokage waiting."

Finally realizing the situation Obito got up with a quick "Yes Sensei." The two were off but not without Obito saying his goodbyes to Rin.

Rin could not believe the series of events that had just taken place. Team Minato's celebration was ruined and she could do nothing about it. At least it wasn't all bad, now she could eat together with Kakashi.

This thought was ruined by a yawn from Kakashi who then went on to say, "Thanks for the invitation Rin, but I need to go train." Rin was utterly confused until she saw Kakashi's empty bowl. Then she was angry at the horrible turn the day had taken. After that came acceptance and depression.

"O-okay Kakashi, I guess I'll see you tommorow," Rin said defeated shoulders slumped and eyes downcast.

Kakashi began to walk away and make good on his promise to go train but something stopped him, something that felt an awful lot like guilt. Kakashi didn't particularly like that feeling, and one look at Rin only intensified the feeling. She was his teammate and it was his responsibility to watch her back even if it meant cheering her up.

Kakashi turned around in mid step and sat back down next to Rin. At this Rin looked up at Kakashi and looked at him with a questioning looks. He shrugged and said, "I have some ramen left." What Kakashi did next shocked her. He reached up and gently pulled down his mask and slowly ate the rest of his meal that was left. He had a narrow jaw line and would be considered handsome by most. Rin took in his features knowing she was lucky to even be seeing them all the while with a light blush across her face. Kakashi didn't seem to notice. The moment didn't last forever as Kakashi finished his meal and returned his mask to its proper place. Turning to Rin with a smile he said, "We should celebrate more often."

It took a while for Rin to collect herself but when she did she returned the smile and said, "Thank you Kakashi." At this Kakashi nodded finally leaving to train like he said, satisfied with returning Rin to her normal self. Though Rin _was_ left alone in the restaurant she wasn't upset. With a smile on her face she thought, "This celebration wasn't so bad after all."

**I haven't really written anything for fun in a while, it probably shows, but for some reason this idea just came to me and I decided to write it down. I always had this idea the Kakashi was a little closer to Rin than Obito even if he was cold to her and I guess I just wanted to show off that relationship a bit. So yeah I guess tell me what you think.**


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